Does this person deserve the protection of Freedom of Speech? Jews all over the world condemn the French government for tolerating the detestable anti-Semite Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, the inventor of the neo-Nazi "quenelle" salute. But this demagogue is a moderate compared to Zilber.
Should Noa appear on the same stage with this "Gift of God"? Or, if she had been living in the German Weimar republic three generations ago, with a clownish demagogue called Adolf Hitler? And would our bleeding-heart democrats have denounced her for refusing?
WELL, I for one admire her. Hers was an act of selflessness. In doing what she did, she was making a huge sacrifice. She will be boycotted by all right-wing audiences. She will not be invited to festivals by organizers who shake in their boots when thinking about the loss of government subsidies.
I remember that 45 years ago, after the outbreak of the first intifada, there was a large demonstration for peace in what later became Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Practically all artistic celebrities of the day were there. Artists fought amongst each other for the right to appear.
Those days are long past. Even well-known leftist artists are now afraid to express an opinion. God forbid. It could mean financial ruin.
So where did Noa find the courage to stand up and refuse? Both her parents are Yemenites -- as was, curiously enough, Silver's mother, a famous singer in my youth. As a rule, Yemenites -- like other Oriental Jews -- tend to be rightists.
The solution to the riddle may be that she grew up in the US, where her father was working. Being educated there in Jewish schools in the 70s and 80s may have implanted certain values.
I love her.
I LOVE Anat Kam.
Anat was a soldier. Her military duties gave her access to secret documents. She copied 2,000 of them, which contained evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers, and gave them to a reporter from Haaretz. The paper published the secret report on one such incident. The army investigators discovered the source.
After almost two years of house arrest, Anat was condemned to a long prison term. On appeal, it was reduced to four years. Last week, after two years and two months in prison, she was freed on parole. A few days later, she revealed her present state of mind in a newspaper interview.
It is a good read. Anat is very intelligent and observant. Her description of her prison experience is vivid and fascinating. It appears that the prison authorities treated her comparatively well. Before entering prison she was very afraid of being beaten up or raped. However, the inmates of the women's prison, though mostly primitive patriots, did not hold her traitorous past against her and with few exceptions befriended her. Women who had murdered their children or lovers asked for her assistance in writing petitions. Anat seems to be a person with a lot of empathy.
She is bitter about Haaretz and the reporter, who, she believes, betrayed her trust out of fear. One can also be bitter about the peace camp in general, which was so afraid that almost nobody raised his/her voice in defense of her courageous act.
What made me sad was her contrition. She declares in the interview that she is sorry for what she did.
I believe that she isn't sorry because of the heavy price she paid. At the age of 28, she has to begin her life anew, branded as a traitor to her people. Four precious years have been stolen from her. She refuses to emigrate. "Why should I? This is my home!" she declares.
What makes her regret her action is the belief that it was all for nothing. She thinks that unlike the revelations of her American comrades in/without arms, Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, who changed the world, her own deed has borne no fruit. It has changed nothing.
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